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Britt is our best striker. The stats don’t lie. When he starts he has an incredible goal scoring ratio. And not just here.

He has been scoring for fun for years now. And I’m sure at all his other clubs fans and pundits said he didn’t run enough, or win enough high balls or track back or put in enough tackles. People used to the same about me.

But it shouldn’t be about what he doesn’t do. It is about what he does do: he scores goals.

He may not fit the Pulis style exactly and he may not be a regular starter but he’s still the top scorer by far and you can’t argue with that.

Britt Assombalonga scores against Peterborough

People tell me he misses a lot of chances and maybe he does. If he didn’t he’d be in the Premier League.

But he gets into the positions. He comes alive in and around the box. He gambles. He peels off the last man’s shoulder. He gets into positions. He has that attacking instinct you can’t coach.

Some times he doesn’t look the most calm and collected and I’ve criticised him for that in the past.

But there was nothing wrong with his nerve for his goal at Birmingham. He took it well when the heat was on.

For me, he has to be the first choice striker. He’s the best we’ve got.

Aitor Karanka won’t be out of a job for long

I was very surprised to see Aitor Karanka out of the door at Nottingham Forest.

They have looked good. They outplayed Boro when they were at the Riverside and were excellent when they gubbed Leeds 4-2.

Forest were seventh and just a few points off the play-offs and well placed. So yes, it was a surprised to see him go.

But I wasn’t surprised to find he’d asked to be released from his contract.

Reading between the lines something wasn’t right behind the scenes and whatever your gripes with Aitor Karanka, he is a man of principle.

Aitor Karanka (Image: Getty Images)

We know that he sticks to his guns and believes in what he was doing and wants total control of it.

But we haven’t seen the last of Aitor Karanka. No way. He has got a great CV at this level.

He turned Boro around with no money in his first season here, then got to the play-offs, then got promoted.

Yes, the Premier League season turned into a disaster and a lot of people didn’t like his style - I didn’t, I’ll admit - but a good manager learns from mistakes and I believe Karanka has done that.

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He changed his style at Forest. At Boro he was ultra-defensive, very rigid and there wasn’t a lot of attacking intent but this season his team has been more fluid, more expansive.

I think he has learned and added something to his game and he deserves credit for that. He’ll get another job easy enough.

Forest have been trigger happy for a decade now and seem to get through a manager a year and are desperate for stability.

They’ve gone for Martin O’Neill to replace Aitor and I think that is a great choice.

Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane while in charge of the Republic of Ireland (Image: PA)

The former Republic boss has an excellent record in club football and has pretty much been a success everywhere he’s been.

He’s charming, intelligent, honest, engaging, a great motivator and has a sharp football brain - plus of course he played at Forest under Brian Clough and won the European Cup so he will have a real emotional impact with the crowd.

He will be welcomed by the Forest fans. I’m not so sure if Roy Keane will be welcomed so warmly by the Forest players mind.

Leeds ‘spy’ row is a storm in a tea cup

I had a wee chuckle to myself listening to all the media outrage over ‘Spygate’.

OK, its a great little story and funny to think of people in the bushes with binoculars but it is all a bit of a storm in a tea cup.

Derby didn’t lose because a spy saw how they set up at free-kicks. They were just not good enough on the night.

Clubs don’t need to spy on teams. Every game is available on video. There are no secrets in football now. Clubs know every team, tactic and player’s inside leg. What can you learn by spying on training?

Fans watch Boro training at Rockliffe. Should security ban them and confiscate their phones in case they are doing beam backs to Bielsa?

I have no problem with it. I don’t think they will gain much but if Bielsa thinks he can get the slightest scrap of information good luck to him.

I had to laugh at the idea that he was only acting like that because he was a foreigner. We do it. Everyone does it.

Marcelo Bielsa (Image: PA)

Every team throughout history has done everything it possibly can to get an extra 1% advantage over the opposition.

Look at Boro: until it was banned they gave towels to the ballboys but only to dry it for our throws. That could give you 1%.

It is not cheating, it is gamesmanship and trying to get an edge over the opposition however you can.

Graeme Souness told me that he once narrowed the pitch when he was manager of Rangers to cramp the opposition style.

Some clubs stick the away fans right out of the way and make the away team coach come past hostile home fans.

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Teams water the pitch to suit their style and stifle the opponents and would flood it if they thought it would help.

When I was a player I remember teams who used to let the grass grow in certain parts of the pitch, or turn the heating off in the away dressing room or give you cold water in the showers and lukewarm tea.

That’s football. Winning is everything and every coach at every club will do whatever it takes to get an edge.